diff --git a/core/pom.xml b/core/pom.xml
index d408b79d3bf2a98470ad7d87c64275bc0cae766c..4ff8e34e4b27df992c3424dea4c4112fb3396022 100644
--- a/core/pom.xml
+++ b/core/pom.xml
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.kohsuke.stapler</groupId>
       <artifactId>stapler</artifactId>
-      <version>1.42</version>
+      <version>1.43</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.kohsuke</groupId>
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/WebAppMain.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/WebAppMain.java
index b6c84bb74510a819941838de1f449e7237477e57..e12a1fb2e76417cafcec323ca79c28843ce79421 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/WebAppMain.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/WebAppMain.java
@@ -6,11 +6,7 @@ import hudson.model.Hudson;
 import hudson.model.User;
 import hudson.triggers.Trigger;
 import hudson.triggers.SafeTimerTask;
-import hudson.util.IncompatibleServletVersionDetected;
-import hudson.util.IncompatibleVMDetected;
-import hudson.util.RingBufferLogHandler;
-import hudson.util.NoHomeDir;
-import hudson.util.InsufficientPermissionDetected;
+import hudson.util.*;
 
 import javax.naming.Context;
 import javax.naming.InitialContext;
@@ -42,7 +38,7 @@ public class WebAppMain implements ServletContextListener {
      * Creates the sole instance of {@link Hudson} and register it to the {@link ServletContext}.
      */
     public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent event) {
-        ServletContext context = event.getServletContext();
+        final ServletContext context = event.getServletContext();
 
         // quick check to see if we (seem to) have enough permissions to run. (see #719)
         JVM jvm;
@@ -56,7 +52,7 @@ public class WebAppMain implements ServletContextListener {
 
         installLogger();
 
-        File home = getHomeDir(event).getAbsoluteFile();
+        final File home = getHomeDir(event).getAbsoluteFile();
         home.mkdirs();
         System.out.println("hudson home directory: "+home);
 
@@ -100,43 +96,47 @@ public class WebAppMain implements ServletContextListener {
             }
         }
 
-
-        try {
-            context.setAttribute("app",new Hudson(home,context));
-        } catch( IOException e ) {
-            throw new Error(e);
-        }
-
-        // set the version
-        Properties props = new Properties();
-        try {
-            InputStream is = getClass().getResourceAsStream("hudson-version.properties");
-            if(is!=null)
-                props.load(is);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            e.printStackTrace(); // if the version properties is missing, that's OK.
-        }
-        String ver = props.getProperty("version");
-        if(ver==null)   ver="?";
-        Hudson.VERSION = ver;
-        context.setAttribute("version",ver);
-
-        if(ver.equals("?"))
-            Hudson.RESOURCE_PATH = "";
-        else
-            Hudson.RESOURCE_PATH = "/static/"+Util.getDigestOf(ver).substring(0,8);
-
-        Trigger.init(); // start running trigger
-
-        // trigger the loading of changelogs in the background,
-        // but give the system 10 seconds so that the first page
-        // can be served quickly
-        Trigger.timer.schedule(new SafeTimerTask() {
-            public void doRun() {
-                User.get("nobody").getBuilds();
+        context.setAttribute("app",new HudsonIsLoading());
+
+        new Thread("hudson initialization thread") {
+            public void run() {
+                try {
+                    context.setAttribute("app",new Hudson(home,context));
+                } catch( IOException e ) {
+                    throw new Error(e);
+                }
+
+                // set the version
+                Properties props = new Properties();
+                try {
+                    InputStream is = getClass().getResourceAsStream("hudson-version.properties");
+                    if(is!=null)
+                        props.load(is);
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    e.printStackTrace(); // if the version properties is missing, that's OK.
+                }
+                String ver = props.getProperty("version");
+                if(ver==null)   ver="?";
+                Hudson.VERSION = ver;
+                context.setAttribute("version",ver);
+
+                if(ver.equals("?"))
+                    Hudson.RESOURCE_PATH = "";
+                else
+                    Hudson.RESOURCE_PATH = "/static/"+Util.getDigestOf(ver).substring(0,8);
+
+                Trigger.init(); // start running trigger
+
+                // trigger the loading of changelogs in the background,
+                // but give the system 10 seconds so that the first page
+                // can be served quickly
+                Trigger.timer.schedule(new SafeTimerTask() {
+                    public void doRun() {
+                        User.get("nobody").getBuilds();
+                    }
+                }, 1000*10);
             }
-        }, 1000*10);
-
+        }.start();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Hudson.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Hudson.java
index 6bcccbfc8f48faa325dfb0eb0305fd8106719bbe..808999f85b5cf9bc40898ab199c0d5da842fe260 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Hudson.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/model/Hudson.java
@@ -41,13 +41,7 @@ import hudson.tasks.Publisher;
 import hudson.triggers.Trigger;
 import hudson.triggers.TriggerDescriptor;
 import hudson.triggers.Triggers;
-import hudson.util.ClockDifference;
-import hudson.util.CopyOnWriteList;
-import hudson.util.CopyOnWriteMap;
-import hudson.util.DaemonThreadFactory;
-import hudson.util.FormFieldValidator;
-import hudson.util.MultipartFormDataParser;
-import hudson.util.XStream2;
+import hudson.util.*;
 import org.apache.commons.fileupload.FileItem;
 import org.apache.commons.fileupload.disk.DiskFileItemFactory;
 import org.apache.commons.fileupload.servlet.ServletFileUpload;
@@ -1476,9 +1470,23 @@ public final class Hudson extends View implements ItemGroup<TopLevelItem>, Node
         if(!Hudson.adminCheck(req,rsp))
             return;
 
-        load();
-        User.reload();
+        // engage "loading ..." UI and then run the actual task in a separate thread
+        final ServletContext context = req.getServletContext();
+        context.setAttribute("app",new HudsonIsLoading());
+
         rsp.sendRedirect2(req.getContextPath()+"/");
+
+        new Thread("Hudson config reload thread") {
+            public void run() {
+                try {
+                    load();
+                    User.reload();
+                    context.setAttribute("app",Hudson.this);
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    LOGGER.log(Level.SEVERE,"Failed to reload Hudson config",e);
+                }
+            }
+        }.start();
     }
 
     public boolean isPluginUploaded() {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/util/HudsonIsLoading.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/util/HudsonIsLoading.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..1cfa785869fce75ebd973061881bb3ebb483a5eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/util/HudsonIsLoading.java
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+package hudson.util;
+
+import static javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.SC_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE;
+
+import org.kohsuke.stapler.StaplerRequest;
+import org.kohsuke.stapler.StaplerResponse;
+
+import javax.servlet.ServletException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * Model object used to display "Hudson is loading data"
+ * @author Kohsuke Kawaguchi
+ */
+public class HudsonIsLoading {
+    public void doDynamic(StaplerRequest req, StaplerResponse rsp) throws IOException, ServletException, InterruptedException {
+        rsp.setStatus(SC_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE);
+        req.getView(this,"index.jelly").forward(req,rsp);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/hudson/util/HudsonIsLoading/index.jelly b/core/src/main/resources/hudson/util/HudsonIsLoading/index.jelly
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..32bc803070af483b12703d1a7d2e323a9ae769a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/resources/hudson/util/HudsonIsLoading/index.jelly
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+<j:jelly xmlns:j="jelly:core" xmlns:st="jelly:stapler" xmlns:d="jelly:define" xmlns:l="/lib/layout" xmlns:t="/lib/hudson" xmlns:f="/lib/form" xmlns:i="jelly:fmt">
+  <l:layout>
+    <l:header title="Hudson">
+      <!--meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5" /-->
+    </l:header>
+    <l:side-panel />
+    <l:main-panel>
+      <h1 style="margin-top:4em">Please wait while Hudson is getting ready to work<span id="progress">...</span></h1>
+      <p style="color:grey">
+        Your browser will reload automatically when Hudson is ready.
+      </p>
+
+      <script><![CDATA[
+        var i=0;
+        new PeriodicalExecuter(function() {
+          i = (i+1)%4;
+          var s = "";
+          for( var j=0; j<i; j++ )
+            s+='.';
+          $('progress').innerHTML = s;
+        },1000);
+
+        window.setTimeout(function() {
+          var statusChecker = arguments.callee;
+            new Ajax.Request(".", {
+                method: "get",
+                onFailure: function(rsp) {
+                    if(transport.status==503) {
+                      // redirect as long as we are still loading
+                      window.setTimeout(statusChecker,5000);
+                    } else {
+                      window.location.reload();
+                    }
+                },
+                onSuccess: function(rsp) {
+                    window.location.reload();
+                }
+            });
+        }, 5000);
+      ]]></script>
+    </l:main-panel>
+  </l:layout>
+</j:jelly>
\ No newline at end of file